


What We Value Most

by IllegalCerebral



Series: Criminal Minds Christmas Fics [6]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Friendship, Garcia having everyone's backs, Garcia taking care of her team, Post-Prison, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, the only functioning adult
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 22:31:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13133574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IllegalCerebral/pseuds/IllegalCerebral
Summary: Penelope ropes in her team mates with some last minute Christmas shopping but she may have ulterior motives





	What We Value Most

“Garcia we’ve been at this for hours” whined Spencer as Garcia carefully inspected the intricate decorations. She had called Spencer that morning, knowing he wasn’t going home for Christmas, to see if he would help her with some last minute shopping at the Christmas market near where she lived.

“The Christmas tree is the centre piece for an entire celebration. It should be decorated with care and then the rest of the room should match” Garcia told him matter of factly as she pulled out her measuring tape.

“Then why did you leave it so late?” asked Spencer “It’s less than a week until Christmas, you always decorate way earlier than this”

“Work has been super busy! I know you guys think I just sit in my lair all day waiting for your calls but I run searches, write programs, compile databases, fill out reports, help Anderson when he comes to me crying over _another_  IT problem. The guy is a dinosaur, I swear he’s worse than you” Garcia sighed and leaned over to inspect some glass turtle doves.

“We don’t think that” frowned Spencer. Garcia scoffed and shuffled round the stall. 

“Sure Boy Wonder”

“We don’t!” 

Garcia rolled her eyes before moving to the next box of baubles and then the one after. None of them were suitable. She sighed and when she straightened up she caught Spencer looking at her, an odd expression on his face.

“What?”

“Do you really feel that way?” he asked “That we think you’re just the tech girl and that’s it?” Garcia shifted, the gravel underneath her feet crunching.

“Look it’s no big deal Reid”

“It is! If that’s-Luke?”

 _Late, typical Newbie,_  thought Garcia, as Luke came jogging over with Roxy at his heels.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” Luke as as he cam to a halt. Garcia, sunk down to pet Roxy and shower her with compliments. Spencer just looked bemused.

“Garcia needed help with some last minute Christmas shopping and I wasn’t busy so here I am. Why are you here?”

“I got a call from-”

“Okay none of this is suitable but we still have a bunch of stalls to go to and if we can stick to the schedule then there is mulled wine at the end of it all” Garcia cut in and before either Luke or Spencer could protest she was weaving through the crowd.

“Is something going on?” asked Luke “Because she asked for my help with shopping too.” Spencer shrugged. They had been there four hours already and he was too shopped out to argue. 

It was actually kind of fun, though Spencer was loathe to admit it. Luke, it turned out had an eye for colour that was fairly in line with Garcia’s tastes and more importantly he was willing to carry everything. Garcia’s comment from earlier was still swirling around his head though and he couldn’t shake the guilt that had overcome him. After a few more hours shopping Garcia declared that it was time for a break and they headed towards the food stalls.

“Hey Emily what are you doing here?” Luke asked. The unit chief had grabbed a table near the mulled wine stall and was nursing a mug.

“Penelope called and-”

“Drinks are on me!” declared Garcia “I need an extra pair of hands to help me carry it though.” Spencer obliged and the four of them spent the next few hours laughing and swapping stories and inspecting Garcia’s purchases.

“Could I get a hand taking these back to my place?” Garcia asked the other three when they had finished their second mugs. They agreed without hesitation thanks to the mulled wine and the carried on the festivities as they caught the bus across town, earning them some concerned looks from their fellow travellers.

Garcia’s new apartment was much bigger than her old one, for starters the kitchen was huge and led to an equally large dining room complete with a big table…set for four people.

“You’re having company for Christmas?” asked Emily. Garcia shrugged.

“Maybe? If you want to. There’s also plenty of bedrooms if we double up or if someone wants to take the pullout couch!” Without waiting for a reply Garcia grabbed the bags of Christmas ornaments and headed for the living room, which already looked like a Christmas grotto. The other three stood in stunned silence.

“So I’m guessing you guys let slip to her you were spending Christmas alone too?” said Emily and the others nodded.

“Yeah she overheard Matt trying to invite me to his house. I didn’t want to crash his family celebration though” said Luke “And Tara is having her Dad and brother over and after everything they went through last year it didn’t feel right to crash that you know?”

“JJ offered everyone a spare room but their house is kind of small for all of us and…” Spencer trailed off. Much like Luke he didn’t like the idea of encroaching on someone else’s celebration no matter how much he loved them. 

“She knew I’d be too proud if she asked outright” murmured Emily. After a moments silence, Spencer spoke in a tiny voice.

“She thinks we don’t appreciate her. You know if we didn’t have her we wouldn’t catch half the UnSubs we do.”

“We don’t tell her enough how important she is” nodded Emily “We just take for granted that she’ll always be there, like now.”

Spencer turned and strode into the living room where Garcia was struggling to find a place to hang the little glitzy narwhal bauble that she had picked out.

“I need your height” said Garcia as he entered “It needs to be up there, about an inch to the left of the crochet snowman.”

“This whole thing was a ruse” he said softly as he placed the decoration where Garcia wanted “The shopping and then having us come back here to help.”

“Plying us with mulled wine to make us more suggestible” added Emily as she and Luke appeared in the doorway. Garcia looked guilty and gave a small shrug.

“No one should be alone at Christmas anyway but you three are probably the people in the world who need a celebration most” said Garcia.

“Why?” asked Luke “Because we aren’t seeing our families or because we don’t have kids or partners to celebrate with?” Garcia rolled her eyes.

“It was more to do with the fact that Reid spent three months in prison and even though everyone seems to have made a conscious effort to act like it didn’t happen everyone can see he hasn’t been sleeping and he still checks the doors of every room he goes into to make sure he isn’t locked in. Or how about the fact that Luke was denied justice for his partner being tortured and then he was denied again when that psycho Scratch fell of a building when he should be rotting in jail. He’s been with the team five minutes and he’s running into burning buildings and threatening gang members for us. Emily don’t even get me started on you, you left your dream job in London where you were safe and happy and recovering from all the Doyle stuff and you get hit with this avalanche of bullshit and pain and a heap of paperwork that we don’t see and then to top it all off you get kidnapped and tortured and forced to relive the worst experience of your life…”

They stared at her.

It was Spencer who moved first, awkwardly enveloping Garcia in his long arms and then being joined by Emily and finally Luke. They stood there for a while, until Garcia stopped shaking and the others had bitten back the tears threatening to spill.

“You don’t have to stay” mumbled Garcia “But there is enough food here to feed a small army.”

“We can help you cook it” grinned Luke.

“Spencer and I will help you cook it” corrected Emily, “Luke can cheer us on from the sidelines”

“I’m a good cook!”

“You’re really not” laughed Spencer “But you do have good taste in wine so you can pick what we drink with the food.”

“Of course the newbie is a wine snob” said Garcia with a dramatic eye roll.

“I have a sensitive palette” said Luke. The three of them continued to argue playfully as Garcia watched them head towards the kitchen, arms folded across her chest and a small smile on her face.

_They’re gonna be okay._

_They’re gonna be okay._

_They’re gonna be okay._


End file.
